Christmas food shopping

Did the last Christmas food shopping at Morrisons. Busy but not too bad.

Longleat christmas train

Met Lisa, James and the little ones at Longleat for the Father Christmas train. Perfect conditions - fine, cold and snow on the ground. Lunch first at the cafe and then on to the train. Lots of fun.

Ciciley & Rufus were a bit overwhelmed by actually meeting Father Christmas. George got a present too.

Gary, Lisa & Ruby at Winchester

Arranged to meet Gary & Lisa at Marwell zoo, however due to very cold weather and ice the zoo was closed. Went instead to Winchester, wandered around the very good Christmas market and had pizza for lunch.

Pizza for dinner

The three of us went to the Real Italian Pizza for dinner.

George had her first espresso - and liked it. She is now converted. Still doesn't like 'normal' coffee though! Wait until she gets back to Italy.

Trip to Hampshire

Day out in Hampshire. First stop was Rogers grave in Alton, then on to the farm for a coffee with Richard & Sheila. Bought some supplies at the farm shop including some excellent rump steak (£9.99/kg).

Met Vivienne at Bluebeckers and had a 'christmas lunch' there and exchanged presents.

Afterwards went to Jan & Kens in Henley for afternoon tea .... and them home.

Burger for dinner

Tried out new takeaway in Julian road. Good burgers

Masterchef at Beechen

Went to Beechen Cliff school to judge Masterchef competition.

Dinner at Richmond Arms

George out somewhere so had dinner at Richmond Arms. Always a good standard of food. I had turkey and xmas pud yum!

Few days in Paris

Went to Paris to spend some time with Remy regarding agile planning.

Flew out Tuesday 1st evening and back Thursday 3rd. Stayed Meridien Montparnasse.

Dinner at Chelsea cafe

George out somewhere so Jayne & I went to Chelsea Cafe for dinner.

Day trip to Leeds - agile topics

Flew to Leeds for the day for some meetings on agile topics.

Went AirSouthwest- small propeller plan. Bounced around alot in the wind

Hector afternoon tea & surprise party

Vivienne here for the weekend. Went to Andy & Elaines for afternoon tea to celebrate Hectors 1st birthday - a bit belated.

In the evening went to new restaurant in Bath, (One Beaumont) just down the bottom of our road. It turned out to be a surprise, very belated, birthday dinner for me. There was Tim & Sheena, Lisa & James, Vivienne, George, Jayne & myself. Excellent evening and really enjoyed the restaurant - would definitely go back. Good food and well priced.

Pizza Express & Goats

Jaye, George & I went for dinner at Pizza Express and then onto the cinema to see "Men who Stare at Goats".

Children In Need night. Vivienne arrived to stay for the weekend

Hudsons for dinner

Belated birthday dinner for me - just the 3 of us. Went to Hudsons Bar & Grill in Bath. Nice evening but food was a bit expensive £25 for a T-Bone steak.

Old car new car

Picked up our new car - Toyota Aygo - in the morning. Lovely

Sold the old Lupo to webuyanycar and dropped off in Aztec West. Didn't quite get the price I was hoping for however at least it was convenient. Point for future - they are very particular about the bodywork and take off about £100 for every scratch/dent. Don't seem to worry about mechanical condition.

Jamies for dinner

Jayne & I went to Jamie's Italian restaurant for an early dinner. George was at Beechen at an open evening and sleep-over.

The antipasta was excellent & the mains tasty however my pasta was overcooked and stuck together. Got a refund for my main. Overall not as good as expected.

First real day at Beechen

Georges first real day at her new school Beechen Clif. I dropped her down the road to catch the bus at 8:00. All went well although need to organise taxi between drama lesson at Hayesfield and Beechen.

Bank holiday weekend - digging dirt

Stayed around home and spent most of Saturday and some of Sunday digging out part of the front garden.
Sunday roast lunch was chicken - went down very well. George & I took Mabel for a walk.

Georges GCSE results

Picked up the results this morning at 11:00

Drama - A*
English language - A*
English Literature - A*
Religious Studies - A*
German - A
Music - A
Science - A
History - A
Maths (calculator) - A
Maths (non-calc) - A
Additional Science - B

Summary - 4 x A*, 5 x A & 1 x B

Fantastic

Pizza for dinner

Jayne, George & I went to Solo Pizza for dinner.

Food was very good, service excellent, however the place lacked something - can't really put our finger on it. Probably would go back. £40 for three

Edinburgh festival week

Drove up on Saturday and stayed near Roslin chapel, about 1/2 hour south of the centre. Saw lots of shows, the best being Paul Zerdin - a ventriloquist. One of the funniest things I've seen.

Sun 16/8 - Wandered around the High St area - very busy. Milkshakes in Wannaburger went down a treat. Blue Bar restaurant for dinner, Cambridge St. 6 people (£113). I am writing this about a month later and I can't remember the restaurant, so it can't have been that good!
Tue 18/8 - Gourmet Burger Kitchen for dinner. Good food and very reasonable - £82 for 5
Wed 19/8 - Tattoo. It poured, luckliy Jayne & I were under cover; the others weren't so lucky.
Thu 20/8 - Mussel & Steak bar restaurant. Starters of seafood were excellent. Steaks were tough. Long tim to get the bill. Webcam in kitchen was good - we could see our dinner being cooked.
Fri 21/8 - Last meal, all of us together - Filling Station restaurant on High St. A typical american style restaurant.
Sat 22/8 - Drove back, George stayed on for even more shows - total of more than 20.

Morrisons here

The Morrisons were here for the night. Went to Bathwick Boatman for dinner. Nice food but felt place needed more marketing - it wasn't very busy.

Cinema

Jayne & I went to the cinema in the evening - Orange Wednesdays 2 for 1.

Saw Pelham 123 - film about a tube train hijack with John Travolta. Great action fun - Jayne wasn't as enthused

Working week and then home

Spent the week working under the umbrella on the terrace in the mornings and early afternoons. Started to get quite hot especially after 3pm.

Did some food shopping to take home in Aulla.

Final bike ride to Pontremoli on 29th.

Left the apartment about 10:00 on Thursday - a couple of hours later than expected. A good drive until Gottard tunnel where there were hugh delays - about 2 hours. Eventually got through. Not much of a delay at Swiss border but had to pay road tax.

Stayed the night at Novotel in Saint Avold - good location, nice hotel.

Started about 08:00 on Friday, stopped at Luxembourg to fill up with petrol. 4pm ferry to Dover. Scenic costal route to Brighton, arriving about 8pm. Stayed at Gary & Lisa's then headed home on Saturday afternoon.

Aulla, work & coffee

I rode into Aulla in the morning to download emails. Worked quite well and had a cappuccino to boot.

Saturday - Aulla

All of us went into Aulla for a wander around. Did some food shopping.

La Spezia for the day

Went to La Spezia for the day - very pleasantly surprised. The centre is lovely, nice shops and easy to walk around. Lunch at funny little place - Osteria di Mimmi. Tiny. The owner cam out, took our order and then went into the kitchen and cooked it. Quite rich food but very tasty.

Bought a bottle of grappa for Tims belated 50th. Excellent wine shop (Casa del vino). Went into a clothes shop and Jayne & George bought a few things for the children

Bike ride to Pontremoli

Bike ride to Pontremoli in the morning - it was market day. Lazed around the apartment and had takeaway pizza for dinner.

Bologna for the day

Went to Bologna for the day - well worth it. It took about an hour & half. After a coffee we split up - Jayne & George doing some clothes shopping and me looking around food markets. Definitely a foodie heaven. Bought a few bits and pieces, some for Stephen & Bridget. Nice coffee in a bar behind market - portraits on the wall

Lunch was at a place called Clive T, down a quite back street and very enjoyable. Excellent pasta with pumpkin (totelloni zucca). Lunch was 58€ Afterwards an ice cream at Sorbetteria Castiglione - a bit of a walk but worth finding. On the way back passed the posh shops - Louis Vuitton, Prada etc.

Had a look in the cathederal

Before returning to the apartment stopped at Doro centry supermarket just outside Villafrance.

Angela for dinner

Angela was coming to dinner tonight. Did the food shopping in the morning followed by the obligitory caffee in Bar Nello.

Dinner was: Courgette,lemon and farro salad; chicken & veg kebabs on the BBQ with peanut sauce; chocolate tart; triffle (angela wasn't keen). Dinner was outside on the terrace - lovely...

Cinqure Terre by boat

Spent the day around the Cinque Terra. Got to Lerici for the 10:00? boat. Whether was a bit dodgey but cleared up nicely during the day. The sea was quite rough and we really noticed it getting on & off the boat. Stopped first at Riomaggiore for a coffee and then at Vernazza for lunch. Had a good wander around Vernazza - really liked it - one of the better villages.
Didn't go on to Monterosso, instead headed back and stopped at Portovenere - again a lovely place worth spending some time at. Bought some nice pesto for Stephen & Bridget.

Lazing in the apartment & Bagnone concert

In the morning went for a bike ride to Podenzana. Didn't do too much after that, just rested at the apartment and planned the week. Went into Bagnone for the evening, after dinner, for a classical concert (strings) in one of the little squares. Had pre-concert icecreams at our favourite gelateria. Met Angela. Lovely evening.

Aulla market & new dongle

George & I went into Aulla to the Saturday market. Stopped at Bar Nello for a coffee first. Mainly clothes in the market, not much in the way of food. Bought a few supplies - veg, meat & fruit (lovely peaches).

Went to phone shop to try and sort out my mobile broadband and ended up having to buy a new dongle (59euros). Managed to get internet connection fine from the terrace but could not get VPN to work so had real problems getting access to emails etc.

Back from Warsaw

Early flight (06:50) from Warsaw and the airport was quite busy. Big queue through security however I went round to the other terminal and went straight thru.

Had some lunch in a small restaurant in Parma near the train station - timing was a bit tight.

All the connections went well on the way home and I was back in Villafranca mid afternoon.

Went for a drink in Bar Nello and pizza in Bagnone.

Agile workshop in Warsaw

I lead a workshop on Agile development with senior IT managers from Poland. About 20 altogether. The day went well. Went for a late lunch and service was very slow so delay in getting started for afternoon session.

The others flew back to Paris in the evening, I stayed another night. Dinner in a restaurant called Sense. Fusion food - OK but would not go back. Place is known for larger number of vodkas.

Stayed in Novotel hotel and was on the 23rd floor - great view of Warsaw over new town.

Train to Milan, flight to Warsaw

Caught train from Villafranca station at about 8:00. Tickets were not a problem, I just showed the confirmation to conductor. When I got to Parma I picked up the tickets from the machine.
Parma station had a good 3G signal so was able to download emails.
Spent a few hours in Milan wandering around - quite warm. Saw La Scala opera house - doesn't look much from the outside. Milan catherdral looks fantastic, nicely cleaned. Galleria Vittorio Emanuale II was also fantastic, some lovely shops.
Had a few problems trying to get train ticket to airport, only to realise there is only a bus. Very busy at train station with loads of people queuing up to buy tickets.
Flight to Warsaw was fine and got there on time although it was a long day.
Very warm in Warsaw.
Met some of the other people (Benjamin, Remy & Yoann) in the old town and had a beer and snack for dinner.

Day in the apartment & getting ready for Warsaw

Spent the day in the apartment sorting things out and also getting ready for my trip to Warsaw. Went to the local hardware to get some lights for the cooker. Went to the train station to try and pick up tickets however everything was closed. Rode down on my bike.
Had problems with mobile broadband and ended up going to Aulla to get an 3 Italy SIM. However it didn't work with my modem.
Dinner on the terrace - lovely.

France, Switzerland & Italy

Left hotel about 8:00, entered Switzerland and sotpped for coffee just before San Gotthard tunnel.
Stopped at Autogrill, near Milan for Lunch. The south going side is much better for food than the north going side (as we found out on the way back). Lunch was 24€.
Stopped at Medesano services for quick coffee then on to apartment. Everything fine. Picked up some food at Conad in Villafranca.
Stopping overnight at Mullhouse was definitely a good thing to do re distance.

Ferry & Drive

Left Stephens place early in the morning to catch an 8AM ferry from Dover. Very easy and much better than driving from Bath.
Filled up car and stomachs in Luxembourg - petrol is a lot cheaper. Noticed that many people were carrying bags of coffee pods. Went to the service station shop and found that not only petrol but coffee & chocolate were much reduced.
Arrived at hotel - Novotel in Sausheim (near Mulhouse) early evening and had very pleasant meal at hotel.

Day in Folkestone

Spent the day in Folkestone with Stephen & Bridget. Nice lunch at restaurant in old town.
Dinner at home.

Left for Italy

Left home about 3pm and drove to Folkestone to stay with Stephen & Bridget.
Our drive to Italy - over 3 days


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Fathers day

Pancakes a'la George for breakfast. Got Bruce Springsteen CD and pair of flip-flops (weel needed).

Spent the morning outside - clearing & mowing.

Lunch at Belvedere Arms pub - excellent Steak & Kidney pie.

Watched Blood Diamonds DVD with George in afternoon.

End of GCSE exams

Last GCSE exam today - Religous Studies

Drama & History

Two exams today GCSE Drama & History and then one more and it's all over

Physics

George's GCSE Physics exam

German reading & writing

Georges GCSE German reading & writing exam

Chemistry & English

Two exams today - Chemistry & English

History

George's GCSE History exam

English Language

George's GCSE English Language exam

Maths exam

Georges GCSE Maths - calculator exam

Madrid- Agile presentation to Orange Spain

Flew from Bristol at 5:00pm. Stayed at hotel near Plaza de Espange - good. Dinner at Le Buey - ox loin - excellent.

Beautiful warm & sunny days - good time of year to go.

Presentation about agile methods went well, lot of interest.

Flew back from madrid Wednesday evening and got home about 11:00

Hectors Christening

Stephen & Bridget's wedding

Jayne not well (stomach problems) and did not come. George & I drove over to Folkestone, meeting Vivienne at pub in Old Romney Marsh for lunch.

Wedding was in The Grand, overlooking the sea - lovely setting. Flowers were beautiful.

Drove back to Romsey Saturday evening

George plays in Bath Music festival

German listening exam.
Kingswood Jazz Orchestra played at the opening night of the Bath Music festival at Green Street Station. George was one of the first saxes.

Biology

George's GCSE Biology exam

English Literature exam

George's GCSE English Literature exam

Trip to Paris

Flight from Bristol 16:00 on Monday - back Wednesday evening.

George's Maths exam

Plasterer for ensuite

Richard Branson the plasterer was here on Saturday and did the en-suite. Now ready to start painting. Also trip to tip to get rid of some old metal and other stuff downstairs.

Sunday was spent clearing out the attic.

Office PC crashed a few days ago. Started to recover files from disk.

London for IT Executive Agile event

Went up to London on Monday morning and returned Thursday afternoon. Stayed in Bayswater Inn hotel - not great.
Most of the time was spent preparing for Group IT Executive committee - Agile event on Thursday morning. It went extremely well.
It was nice being in the Padington office - quite a buzz in the coffee area.
Dinners were had at Arancina (italian cafe), The Cow (gastro pub) & Hereford Rd (modern british). All very good

Music Exam

George's GCSE music exam

Religious Studies Exam

George's GCSE Religious Studies Exam

Stephens stag do - Amsterdam

Flew from Bristol to Amsterdam at lunchtime.

Train and tram to hotel and then met others (about 14) at Ziggys bar later afternoon. Then followed many hours of taking in the sights, sounds & tastes of Amsterdam. Back to hotel about 2am.

Beautiful day on Sunday. Others left for train back to London in morning. I wandered around Prinsengracht, park, museum & old town areas. Caught a few trams - made it easier. Back to Schipol early evening for flight around 9.

Electrician for en-suite

Had electrician around to put in fan in bathroom and sort out lights.

Georges GCSE exams start

First exam today - Music. Last exam 15 June

Evening of cheese

George's last official concert at school - Evening of Cheese(y music). Black tie - it all went very well. We did not go - mainly due to foot.

Freecycle.org

Used Freecycle.org to advertise a few things we did not want. The basic idea is that you post a message on a website and if people are interested they contact you and arrange collection. No money changes hands. Got rid of old scanner, some of Jaynes OU books, sink & toilet etc.

Paris trip postponed

Did plan to go to Paris to UQS workshop however had to cancel as could not walk. Took a couple of days off work resting.

Cut foot in garden - anzac day

While working in front garden I stood on something that went through wellies and cut the sole of my right foot. Don't know what it was. Went to A&E for x-ray, bandage & tetanus injection. Catherine & Chris came around to dinner and George did most of the cooking - what a star.

Gartner Agile event in Egham

Drove up to Egham for a Gartner workshop on agile development. Jayne & George went to see Aunty Brenda.

Easter in Italy

Wednesday 8th April
Up @ 4am, away by 5, breakfast at airport. Flight was on time and a couple of hours later were in Pisa. Lunch at a pizza restaurant and then Georgina & I went up the tower while Jayne waited at the bottom. Great views and the lean was really odd - especially walking around the top. Georgina tried out her new camera. Left Pisa mid afternoon, stopped for food shoping in Aulla. Prices have gone up alot - was €100 for a few bags. Apartment was fine and the central heating worked this time (although we didn't need it). Cup of tea and relaxation on the terrace. Fish & salad for dinner

Thursday 9th
Had a little sleep in til 9. Jayne & I went to Aulla to get me a couple of shirts and shorts - weather was warmer than we thought. Also bought a few more food items for dinner. Prio to shopping had a lovely caffe in Bagnone - ahh the coffee is fantastic! Lovely, warm and sunny day sitting outside. George was at the apartment revising :-( Saw Catherine briefly. Lunch at home outside on the terrace then some reading and more relaxing. Later afternoon we all headed out for a drive to try and see Angela (not there) and Catherins (busy with clients). Went to Opillo (heard it had a great restaurant) although didn't find it. Tiny village, not much to see. Had a wander around Malgrate castle. Home for dinner - pasta with asparagus, pears, pinenuts & lemon. Almond torte for afters.

Friday 10th - Good Friday

Pontremoli caffe : my bicycle : card shop in pontremoli

Bike ride in the morning to Pontremoli - very pleasant and had coffee and pastry in the main square. Everything was open (Good Friday). Note to self - add "holidays" info to apartment web site info. My hayfever was really bad - sneezing - obviously not a good time of year. Relaxed at home in the afternoon. Roast lamb & beans for dinner - yum.

Saturday 11th
Went to see Angela first thing and had a coffee (how many is that? I'm not counting) with her. She is well and B&B is steady. Went to Aulla market - plenty of cheap clothes but very limited food. Had lunch in Piazza Cavour at a nice winebar. Excellent choice of wine. Spent afternoon relaxing on terrace (where have I heard that before?). Takeaway pizza for dinner

Very large Easter Eggs in Aulla

Sunday 12th - Easter Sunday
Chocolate Easter egg for breakfast and then long bikeride (30miles?). Lunch on terrace, very warm and sunny afternoon

Bike ride route.


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Monday 13th - Easter Monday
Met Angela and friends in Villafranca and then headed up to Zeri (famous for lamb) for lunch. Beautiful sunny day. Lunch 25€ all you can eat and drink - brilliant value, excellent food - antipasti, several pastas, various combinations of lamb and vegatables, dessert, coffee and some unknown but very tasty firewater. After this went to a place called Bosco - at the end of a road in the middle of nowhere. A nice little village. Stopped at a lovely waterfall along the way. Back to one of Angelas friends (Gigi) for a drink & coffee. He runs the theatre in Bagnone and we talked about having a food and cinema (cucina & cinema) event in the summer when we return. Basically - watch a film about food then eat the food - sounds good to me!

waterfall & village of Bosco

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Tuesday - just potted about home - not the best of weather. Got all packed up

Wednesday - early start, drove to Pisa and eventually got home to Bath mid afternoon.

Orange Wednesdays

George, Jayne & I went to Pizza Express then cinema (The Boat the Rocked) - both 2 for 1 deals as part of Orange Wednesdays. Had to queue for about 1/2 hour for restaurant - who said there is a recession?

Georges 16th birthday party & Mothering Sunday

Mother Day Flowers (choosen by George). George & Rebecca. Some of the birthday cards

It was a beautiful sunny day

People that came: Vivienne, Claire, Will, Gary, Lisa, Ruby, Andy, Elaine, Hector, Lisa, Cecily, Sherryl, Rebecca, Rachel & of course George, Jayne & Lloyd

Menu:

• French Onion soup
• Paella
• BBQ legs of lamb
• Roased root vegetables
• Liquorice & Pear gateaux
• Orange & Walnut tart
• Triffle (made by George)
• Brazillian Chocolate cake

Claire & Elaine. Claire & Hector. Vivienne & Ruby

Cicely & triffle. DIY BBQ for the lamb

22nd Wedding Anniversary

Our 22nd wedding anniversary. Bought a bottle of Dom Perignon - Jaynes favourite. Not for drinking just yet!

Went into town early and did some food shopping. Spent most of the day preparing for party tommorrow.

The girls (Jayne, George, Vivienne & Claire) went into town shopping.

Takeaway Indian for dinner

Dans engagement

After lunch at pub in Theale for Dans engagement

plumbers here

Mike and Phil the plumbers are here for a week putting in our new bathroom.

Dinner at raven Pub

Met Jayne in town after work and had drinks in Salamander then dinner at Raven pub - excellent pies

Work trip to Warsaw

A busy few weeks travel wise.

Wednesday (4th) morning I caught train up to Heathrow (excellent service) and then flew to Warsaw from Terminal 5. Evening was spent... Stopped off on the way to dinner and had an excellent hot chocolate at Staroswiecki Sklep. Seemed to be the normal thing to do.

First thing Thursday morning I gave a telephone presentation on Agile development to France Telecom IT Executive Committee - seemed to go well. After this, a quick dash to the office to run a workshop for the rest of the day.

Wandered around the old town. The restaurant I was hoping to go to Podwale Piwna Kompania was completely full at 7pm.

Friday morning was workshop again and then headed to airport after lunch. Got there early and relaxed waiting for plane. Everthing was on time and I even managed to get an earler train home - getting to Bath about 9:30pm

Work trip to Marseille

Flight Wednesday morning at 8:30 - Bristol to Nice. Picked up rental car at Nice airport and drove to Marseille. Lovely sunny weather. Went to hotel first (arrived about 3:30) and the made way to FT Office on metro.
Jeanne & Nicolas took me out in the evening - first to a bar for an aperitif and then on to a very nice (expensive) fish restaurant - L'Epuisette.
Work on Thursday with a long lunch near the Vieux Port. Didn't leave office until about 7:00 in the evening. Went to Toinou restaurant that only does shellfish. Had an excellent platter of Crab, King Prawns, Cockles & Languostines.
Friday morning did some work in the morning and then drove to Nice, taking a rural route for part of the way. The car I had was a convertible Astra so did some of the trip with the top down. A bit cold but very nice :-)

Nice Airport

Conference call at Nice airport @ 1:00 then went through security. Disappointing that there were no restaurants so lunch was a sandwich. Got home about 6:00

Wardrobe weekend

Spent the weekend making George's wardrobe. Still not finished however it is functional.

Slipped over outside and grazed leg.

George returned home from skiing (near Morzine, Port de Soleil) about 8pm Sunday night after a great weeks skiing. Excellent weather & snow

Georgina's new wardrobe

The progress on building a new wardrobe for George...

old wardrobe


new wardrobe design


progress...